This conference summary was written by Eve Nichols for the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable for the Development of Drugs and Vaccines Against AIDS, chaired by Harold Ginsberg and Sheldon Wolff and directed by Robin Weiss. The document reports major themes of the conference discussions; these themes, however, do not represent policy statements by the Institute of Medicine.

The report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

The Institute of Medicine was chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist distinguished members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts under both the Academy's 1863 congressional charter responsibility to be an advisor to the federal government, and its own initiative in identifying issues of medical care, research, and education.

The Roundtable is supported by the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the Merck Company Foundation, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Public Health Service, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 91-60585

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The serpent has been a symbol of long life, healing, and knowledge among almost all cultures and religions since the beginning of recorded history. The image adopted as a logotype by the Institute of Medicine is based on a relief carving from ancient Greece, now held by the Staatlichemuseen in Berlin.